Red Wings' anemic power play

DETROIT – Johan Franzen thinks to fix the Wings’ power play Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk have to shoot the puck more.

Coach Mike Babcock agrees with part of Franzen’s thoughts on how to fix the anemic specialty team units.

“We need shots,” Babcock said after practice Monday at Joe Louis Arena. “Pavel doesn’t have enough (shots), he’s right about that. Z’s got lots of shots, he shoots the puck every time he gets the chance and that’s what I like to see. I’d like (Niklas Kronwall) to have a lot more (shots) on the power play and I’d like to have more shots from inside the dots and not from the outside.”

In Sunday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit went 0-for-6 with the man advantage, squandering away 11:17 of power play time.

That drops the Wings to 2-for-26 on the power play.

“It’s not an issue with personnel,” Danny Cleary said. “We feel that we have great personnel out there. I feel we have to have a little more work ethic out there. Get the loose pucks back after shots. Retrieves are important. We have guys in front of the net. I think we have to shoot a little bit more from the outside.”

The Wings had just five shots on the power play Sunday.

“When you’re the Mule and you’re in front of the net you want someone to shoot the puck otherwise you’re standing there and wondering what you’re doing,” Babcock said. “You’re standing around and you have dust on you, you don’t do anything. (Tomas Holmstrom) used to come to the bench and yell at me to tell them to shoot, shoot. And Mule’s not doing that, but he’s thinking the same thing. If they shoot he’s got a chance to generate offense. If they don’t shoot, he goes and gets the puck back and stands there and watches them pass it around. You have to shoot to score.”

Kronwall agrees that getting more pucks to the net will help turn around a power play that ranks 28th in the league.

“The pucks aren’t going in,” Kronwall said. “We have to do a better job getting into the zone and establishing momentum and just get pucks to the net. We need more shots, get it back and go from there.

“It’s always disappointing when you don’t score on the power play, whether it’s your first or last one you always want to score on the power play,” Kronwall added. “We just have to find a way to get the job done.”

Good news for HelmDarren Helm got a bit of good news about his lower back that flared up prior to Sunday’s game, the MRI he had revealed no damage.

“They put him on some anti-inflammatory medication,” Wings general manager Ken Holland said.

Helm won’t play Tuesday and is questionable for the weekend.

“I’d say maybe by next week, we’ll see how the next 4-5 days go,” Holland said.

Helm has played one game this season, last Friday against the Minnesota Wild.

He missed the Wings’ week-long training camp and the first three games of the season with a back injury, which was the first of his playing career.

He hit by a puck on Nov. 2 during an informal skate in Troy, breaking an orbital bone.

On March 17, he missed the final 10 regular season games with a sprained MCL. Then, in his first game back, the playoff opener against Nashville, he had tendons in his forearm sliced by a skate.

Forward thinkingRookie Brian Lashoff found a red practice jersey in his stall Monday rather than the black jersey worn my defensemen.

For half the practice, Lashoff filled in for Valtteri Filppula on a forward line with Todd Bertuzzi and Pavel Datsyuk.

“It was a cool experience just to say that you’ve done it once in practice or whatever, but it was fun,” Lashoff said.

Ins and outsBabcock said after practice that defenseman Jakub Kindl will be back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch Sunday. He however didn’t say who Kindl would be replacing.

Filppula (knee) missed practice, but is expected to play tonight against Dallas.

“Bottom line it’s harder to be a good player when you don’t practice,” Babcock said. “Obviously there must be a little bump or bruise somewhere else or he would be practicing. We need him to be an important player for us and generate offense for us.”

Goalie Jonas Gustavsson took part in his first practice since injuring his groin opening night and could be ready to back Jimmy Howard up by this weekend.

“Maybe I’ll need a few more good practices out there before I’m 100 percent, but I feel it’s going in the right direction so it should be soon,” Gustavsson said.

Defensemen Ian White (leg laceration) and Carlo Colaiacovo (separated shoulder) should resume skating in a day or two.

Holland estimated that White will miss another week and Colaiacovo could be out another two weeks.

Forward Mikael Samuelsson (groin) has yet to resume skating and there is no time frame for his return.

Send comments to chuck.pleiness@macombdaily.com, follow him on twitter @redwingsfront and visit his blog at redwingsfront.wordpress.com